Florida - Cedar Key State Museum

Florida - Cedar Key State Museum
Cedar Key has had its ups and downs. It was a bustling community in the 19th century and an important Confederate port during the Civil War

Many small museums owe their existence to the energy and enthusiasm of just one individual, and this is an example. Much of the material here was assembled by the late Saint Clair Whitman, a dedicated naturalist, collector, and former resident of Cedar Key. Along with artifacts dating from 6,000 B.C. to the colonial period, the museum houses a display of late 19th century glassware, exhibits that chart local history, and Mr. Whitman’s extensive collection of seashells.

Cedar Key has had its ups and downs. It was a bustling community in the 19th century and an important Confederate port during the Civil War. The lumbering industry boomed for a brief period, as did shipbuilding and associated activities. Today this is a quiet town to explore.

The museum documents the lumbering area in particular with an excellent collection of photographs and tools. Also on view: mementos of the fishing, oystering, and sponge industries, and the brushes and brooms o a palm fiber industry. The latter enterprise was swept away by the advent of plastics. Open year-round. Admission charged.

Florida:
guide, hotels

Florida

v  Black River State park
v  Bone Valley Museum
v  Cedar Key State Museum
v  Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary
v  Biscayne national Park
v  Collier-Seminole State Park
v  Elliott Museum and Gilbert's Bar House of
Refuge
v  Flamingo Area & Everglades National Park
v  Grayton Beach Recreation Area
v  Key West
v  Natural Bridge Battlefield
v  Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and
Canaveral National Seashore
v  Santa Barbara - East Beach
v  T.H. Stone Memorial St. Joseph Peninsula State Park